Hourcade seeks improvement from Argentina

Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade was unimpressed with his side’s effort in the scrums and lamented their handling errors in the 37-15 defeat to South Africa on Saturday.

Argentina’s decline has seen them win only three of their last 15 tests. For a side that prides itself on its scrumming prowess, they won’t be pleased that the Springboks dominated their scrum.

"We urgently need to improve the scrum," Hourcade told reporters.

"We can't have five penalties and a free kick against us. From there came points or they took us into our half of the field and took away the initiative. We were not able to build momentum because of those penalties."

Hourcade also said that the Boks showed excellent physicality and put pressure on his side on attack.

"We attacked little and defended a lot. At times we did well or very well, but you can't defend the whole game against a team like South Africa, which is in a great moment," he said.

"That puts you under too much pressure. They were superior, they played better."

Hourcade said he wants his side to use the ball with more intelligence and accuracy when they face the Boks again.

"We have to keep the ball, which we lost too easily," he said.

"There were some opportunities on the field, but when you fail after a break, or you try to play out of a defensive position and you lose the ball with an unforced error, that hurts you. The Springboks had that great virtue, that of taking advantage of our mistakes, of which there were too many."